Baseball Heaven: Louisville Slugger Auction Wrap

A bat created for Mickey Mantle at the Louisville Slugger factory in 1960 came back to Kentucky on Saturday, this time as a precious relic of baseball history. The 1960 World Series gamer grabbed the highest bid in Hunt Auctions’ third annual Museum & Factory baseball memorabilia sale at $49,450 including a 15% buyer’s premium.

The bat was part of a huge auction conducted in the museum. Bidders and spectators witnessed the sale in person but there were hundreds of bids registered by phone and via the internet for a wide range of sports memorabilia and vintage baseball cards. Over 1,000 lots were sold.

The second most popular bat in the auction was a Tris Speaker 1928 model with factory side writing and a return shipping label from the Philadelphia Athletics. It brought $34,500.

John Quinn's 1934 US-Japan photo albumSeveral items from the family of John Quinn highlighted the two-day event including a photograph taken during the 1934 U.S. Major League All Star team tour of Japan that featured Quinn, Babe Ruth Lou Gehrig. Autographed by the three, the photo sold for $46,000. A presentation album from the tour featuring autograph sheets carrying the signatures of Hall of Famers like Ruth, Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and even catcher-spy Moe Berg as well as Japanese player autographs and numerous photographs sold for $31,050.

The Quinn family literally walked into the Hunt offices in Pennsylvania. “A lot of the images in the album have never been published before,” said Hunt Auctions President David Hunt. “It’s worth a lot of money but historically it’s interesting to see them and bring them to the public to see how they react.”

Among the other higher valued pieces of memorabilia that sold: A uniform worn by Steve O’Niell during a 1924 World tour brought $31,050 and a 1873 Boston Red Stockings cabinet photo consigned by the heirs of Deacon White was sold for $35,650. A Lloyd Waner Pirates road uniform (1936) went for $27,600.